Kushner: The White House’s ‘princeling’

Kushner: A very broad portfolio

Newscom (2)

“In a White House where President Donald Trump commands reverence,” only one man gets to call him “Donald,” said Josh Dawsey in Politico.com. That’s Jared Kushner, Trump’s 36-yearold son-in-law, who has both the president’s ear and his “implicit trust.” Trump has handed Kushner a vast portfolio that includes forging a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, negotiating with China and Mexico, and reinventing government according to business principles. This week, Kushner even traveled to Iraq to evaluate the war on ISIS. Resentful White House sources complain that Kushner, who has spent his life running his inherited real estate company, “does essentially what he wants” but is utterly out of his depth. The “princeling,” as the Chinese now view Kushner, has only one qualification for his vast new powers, said Jeet Heer in NewRepublic.com. “He’s married to Trump’s beloved daughter, Ivanka.”

Trump’s decision to rely on Kushner should not be surprising, said Michael D’Antonio in CNN.com. While running his private real estate company, Trump has long depended on “the extreme loyalty of the family.” Kushner, the son of a billionaire, also plays into Trump’s overriding belief that wealth is the ultimate proof of competence and intelligence. Actually, Kushner is well suited to help Trump bring business efficiencies to our bloated, bureaucratic government, said Cheryl Chumley in The Washington Times. Who better to do that than “a former real estate and media executive with a string of financial accomplishments”?

“I worked for Jared Kushner,” said Elizabeth Spiers in The Washington Post, and from what I saw of his skills in publishing and real estate, the nation is in trouble. In 2011, Kushner hired me as editor-inchief of The New York Observer, a newspaper he bought at the tender age of 25. During my tenure, Kushner reversed his pledge to me to expand the staff and pursue growth, and embarked on a “nihilistic” cost-cutting spree that badly damaged the once respected newspaper and website. He later shut down the print edition and put the website up for sale. In real estate, Kushner almost “destroyed the family’s fortune” by going deeply into debt to acquire 666 5th Avenue for a Manhattan record price of $1.8 billion. I worry that Kushner’s time in government is yet another “vanity project”—one where his “expertise isn’t just low, but nonexistent.”